4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Greenest reprieve: Charlottesville cuts loose with a $400,000 check to cover the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority's deficit before the authority slashes free recycling and other popular programs, Jeremy Borden reports in the Daily Progress. The city has been in a dispute with Albemarle County over how much each pays to fund the authority, and has withheld payment since 2001, prompting some to call the city a "deadbeat." Mayor David Brown believes an agreement is near.

Smallest increment: A headline in the Daily Progress trumpeting "UVA extends benefit to gay couples" is not about the long-denied provision of medical benefits to same sex partners, but about how any adult– regardless of sexual orientation– who lives with a UVA employee can now use the gym, based on an opinion by Attorney General Bob McDonnell.

Best reduction in charges: Prosecutors drop second-degree murder and felony child neglect charges against Raelyn Balfour, the JAG School employee who forgot her nine-month-old son was in the car March 30 when she went in to work. Rob Seal reports in the DP that Balfour faces involuntary manslaughter charges in January, which carry up to 10 years in prison.

Worst off-field blow: UVA football player Vic Hall is assaulted by a group of males early June 24 when leaving the Biltmore Grill and walking to his car with quarterback Jamell Sewell. Hall was taken to the emergency room and released.

Worst man/beast collision: A motorcyclist kills a bear on I-64 between Crozet and Ivy June 24, WCAV reports.

Most like Big Brother: City police propose installing 30 cameras at a cost of $300,000 on the Downtown Mall to increase safety, according to a Seth Rosen story in the Progress.

Most wanted: William Miller Herndon, 28, is killed by multiple gunshots early June 21 on Hardy Drive. Police have warrants to arrest Jason Scott Marshman, 29, and warn citizens he's believed to be armed and dangerous.

Second most wanted: Police seek Wes Junios Seward, 40, for stalking and felony assault stemming from a June 19 incident on North Berkshire Road. Seward may be driving a 2001 Mazda with the Virginia license plate WES-40.

Worst words to hear related to an auto accident: Cement truck, one of which rolls over a Honda Accord on Route 53 June 21, closing the road for most of the day and leaving the Honda's passenger, Jessica Lester, in critical condition.

Worst attempted carnal knowledge: Former Whisper Ridge operations director Bianca Nicole Johnson, 33, pleads guilty June 20 to writing a steamy letter to a 15-year-old male at the facility for troubled teens in December 2004. She gets three years in prison suspended, one year's probation, and a mental health evaluation, the DP reports.

Worst spate of sturm und drang: Lightning is blamed for a June 19 fire in a Hayrake Lane house in Redfields belonging to Phil and Christine Trinter. The Sixth Street Mini Mart's porch roof collapses and traps four people in the store that same evening, and authorities blame high winds. And lightning is the likely culprit in the fire that burns Richard and Peggy Carter's house in The Rocks June 18.